Web Marketing Association Names Best Investment Websites of 2005

The Web Marketing Association is pleased to announce the investment related best of industry winners for the 9th annual international WebAward Competition

(PRWEB) September 13, 2005 -- The Web Marketing Association is pleased to announce the investment related best of industry winners for the 9th annual international WebAward Competition (http://www.webaward.org), the Internets premier award competition. The investment industry represents significant categories in the WebAward competition, and the Web Marketing Association again honors the Best Investment Web sites of 2005

Web sites are extremely important to the investment industry," said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. Companies can benefit from the independent evaluation recognition of their online efforts that the award judges provide. That is the goal of the WebAward Competition - to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective websites on the Net today."

Here are this years top sites along with past WebAward winners in investment and financial related categories.

Best Investment Website

2005 BusinessWeek Online

2004 Allied Capital Corporation

2003 Summit Partners

2002 Strong Financial Corporation

2001 Frank Russell Company

Best Mutual Funds Website

2005 Cohen & Steers Website

2004 HighMark Funds Website

2003 Barclays Global Investors iShares.com

2002 Strong Financial Corporation

2001 Frank Russell Company

Best Banking Website

2005 Sainsburysbank.co.uk

2004 HSBC Card Services HK

2003 Deutsche Bank Global Cash Management

2002 Freddie Mac - Your Route to Homeownership

2001 Dollar Bank Loans Website

Best Brokerage Website

2005 A Defining Year: Charles Schwab

2004 Strong Financial

2003 Strong Financial Corporation

2002 Strong Financial Corporation

2001 Solomon Smith Barney Young Investors Network

Best Credit Union Website

2005 America First Credit Union

2004 APCI Federal Credit Union

2003 U.S. Central Credit Union

2002 Santa Clara County Federal CU

2001 Security Service Federal Credit Union

Best Financial Services Website

2005 Merrill Lynch Gateway Website

2004 Trancentrix

2003 Deutsche Bank Global Cash Management

2002 CNBC on MSN Money

2001 Strong Financial Corporation

Best Insurance Website

2005 Medical Mutual - Ohio's get Well Card

2004 Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Website

2003 Empire BlueCross BlueShield Website

2002 progressive.com

2001 John Hancock eVariable Life

A complete list of past winners can be found at http://investment.webaward.org

Web sites are judged on design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, navigation and ease of use. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in the category and then against an overall standard of excellence. The 2005 Best of Show WebAward is presented to Atlanta -based IQ interactive (www.iqtv.com), for their outstanding work on "National Geographic -- Inside The Mafia" at URL www.insidethemafia.com. The site was also awarded Best Entertainment WebAward.

Zugara (www.zugara.com) was named Top Agency at the 2005 WebAward Competition, taking home 20 awards, more that any other organization in the history of the competition. The Top Agency Award given to recognize the consistently outstanding development going on at interactive firms. Zugara is headquarted in Los Angles and took home Best Music site for Red Bull Music Labs, 11 Outstanding and 8 Standard of Excellence WebAwards.

The 2005 WebAwards are sponsored by BURST! Media (www.burstmedia.com), Oddcast (www.oddcast.com), NewsUSA (www.newsusa.com), ODwyers PR Daily (www.odwyerpr.com), Small Army Creative Services (www.smallarmy.net), Burrelles Luce (www.burrellesluce.com), Line 56 Media (www.line56.com), Perseus Software (www.perseus.com) and PRWeb (www.prweb.com). The Web Marketing Association thanks it sponsors for helping to make this annual competition possible.

About the Web Marketing Association

The Web Marketing Association is an organization working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of advertising, marketing and promotion used to attract visitors to Web sites. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Associations annual WebAward Competition has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world. Now in its ninth year, the WebAward Competition has become the premier award event for Web developers and marketers worldwide.

# # #